Ring Shopping

Posted by barb on Sep 6, 2003 in Wedding |

Andrew has decided that he wants the ring before he proposes, so we went ring shopping today to get an idea of prices and styles. Our first stop was Bailey, Banks and Biddle, where we were impressed by the salesman. He didn’t pressure us, and even listened when I said that I really wanted something kind of subtle — nothing very large. He showed us several settings that I liked, and explained how to tell if the cut of a diamond was correct (it should be shiny, even in the shade, and shouldn’t have any “dead spots”).

We went to a smattering of other jewelers, like Shaw and Kay, but their selections were suspiciously similar and not really what I was looking for.

However, we were also impressed by the collection at Christian Bernard . The saleslady also mentioned that they would be having a bridal show in the next few weeks, and would have hundreds more styles to choose from.

We were contemplating lunch, when we walked past Helzberg Diamonds. I decided that we could handle one more jeweler before lunch. Silly me. The saleswoman seemed nice enough. She gave us a long lecture on the four ‘C’s of diamonds. I realize that she is used to dealing with Joe Public, but Andrew and I are in general smarter than Joe Public and, for example, don’t need to be told that if one carat is a dollar, then .52 carats is like 52 cents. We get decimals.

Then, she decided to pull out the “loops” to show us how “other jewelers” would show us the diamonds we might purchase. But, she assured us, HD would let us see the diamond under a microscope, giving more a 3-D picture of our investment. Good goddess. Give me a break. We are not diamond experts, and that’s why we want a certified diamond. We don’t know what to look for. And, frankly, I’d already told her that I didn’t really care if the diamond a few small flaws, since none of my friends were going to look at the diamond under a microscope. I just wanted something that would look nice to the naked eye.

During all of this, she tried engaging us in conversation about how we met, when we were getting engaged, etc. At one point she turned to me and asked, “Isn’t this exciting?” “Yeah,” I replied, but not as giddy as she probably expected. I’m not actually engaged yet, so I’m trying to temper my excitement — I want something left when the big day actually comes. Later, I was pretty sure that she had been trying to get Andrew to see how excited I was, so that he’d be spurred into buying something.

So, with 30 minutes of our lives gone, I was trying to make it clear that we were now ready to leave. I asked if she had a card that we could take. No, of course not, instead they wanted some information from us. While she had bored us half to death, I had no other reason not to give her my address.

Having completed the form, she turned to us and asked, “What haven’t I done for you?” I thought this was just an invitation for us to ask any further questions that may not have been answered by her 20 minute lecture on diamonds. So I answered, “Nothing. Like we said, this is our first day out, and we wanted to get an idea of what we’re getting into.”

Then she asks again, “What haven’t I done for you? What’s holding you back from taking one of these home today?”

Suddenly my mood darkened. I replied, with all the venom I could muster, “Don’t even start that with us.”

The saleswoman tried backpedaling. “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant.”

“I told you this is our first day out. We are not buying today. Do you have a card we should take or not?”

“No, I’m here pretty much all the time.”

“Well, then, thank you for your time.” And we left to get lunch.

Needless to say, HD will never get a cent of our money. Ever.

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